Re: Operation: Second Afterlife
by CloudedJudgment
Summary: An author rewrite of Operation: Second Afterlife. After passing on, the members of Battlefront plan on awakening in a new life. Their plan, however, is broken. Instead, they find themselves thrown into a different Afterlife. Separated in the Shadow filled world, they must come together and find a way out. Disclaimer Within.
1. Obliteration and Resurrection

I Claim No Rights. "Angel Beats!" is owned by Maeda Jun, ASCII Media Works, Kishi Seiji, KEY, and Sentai Filmworks. Please Support The Official Release.

* * *

"Thank you for giving… my life to me."

It happened just like that.

Just like that, she was gone. I was left hugging the air and fell to my knees. Desperate, I tried to find where she was; but she was no longer there. There was nothing.

My tears still streamed down my face, and I could still feel the warmth of her body against my chest.

Confused and alone, I shouted her name as loud as I possibly could, hoping, wishing… begging the cruel world to let her hear my cries. But she was gone - I knew that.

I had no reason to leave the world I was in.

But without her, I had no reason to stay.

My tears never stopped flowing, and yet I somehow felt at peace. I was as calm as the wind. Still on the ground, I closed my eyes.

As everything faded to black, I saw the familiar faces of all the friends I knew. And as each one disappeared one by one, I too faded.

And then… I could see it. The oddly familiar streets of modern day Japan. An oddly familiar girl walking by, humming an oddly familiar tune.

I turned as she passed, and reached out to grab her.

* * *

And everything was black.

I didn't know anything anymore… It felt as if I was drifting through darkness. There was no way to tell what was up and what was down; what was left and what was right.

"Where am I…? Who am I…?" No response. "What am I doing here…?" I could feel nothing but the cold, gripping, darkness on my body, and the warm tears that still stained my face.

The only thing I could see in my head was an image of a girl - a small girl with silver hair.

Who was she? I didn't even know that. But though I didn't know, I spoke her name.

"Kana… de…" My arm raised itself into the air, trying to grasp the name my mouth had just spoken. But no matter how far it reached, it never grasped it. The name floated away, eternally out of the reach of my hand.

The girl named Kanade Tachibana. She floated away, forever out of reach.

Floating… just like…

An Angel.

* * *

**Chapter One: Obliteration and Resurrection**

'_An Angel?'_ A heartbeat. The darkness receded from a blinding white light, yet it was somehow still dark. But now, I wasn't drifting. There was solidity beneath me.

"Alright, we finally have a damn pulse." A rough voice spoke out. I had no idea who it was, but it was strangely familiar. All I could see was the ever-stretching darkness.

"Well, it's about time." I recognized this voice too. _Who… who are you people?_ "He's probably going to be up soon. Hinata. How are things looking?"

"Still nothing. Damn, this thing is worthless!" I heard the sound of plastic slamming into something. "Can't believe they dumped this junk on you, Fujimaki."

"Hey, what do you want from me? They were gone by the time I got here. All the note said was 'Use this to contact us, we have the other communicator. Just say Battlefront's passphrase and we'll answer'."

"Hinata, calm down. We'll figure something out. Fujimaki, how's he looking?" All the voices and names were so familiar, yet so distant. Just like that girl… _Can I just sleep now?_

"Ahh, damn. The moron's falling back asleep!"

"What!?" Loud footsteps made their way towards me, but I still couldn't see anything. "Damn moron, do _not _go to sleep!" _Could you stop calling me a moron…? And I'm so tired… I can't see, my body hurts, and I just want to drift away._

"Yuri, this is _not_ good!"

"I know that, shut up!" I felt their warm hands press against my body. _I… I just want to sleep._ "God dammit, Otonashi! _Wake up!_"

"Yuri, we have to do it. _Now._"

"But, he might not need…"

"YURI!" The one they called Yuri was silent for a few seconds. "Come on!"

"…I got it, alright?" _What are you two talking about?_ "Takamatsu. Get it ready, we're going to have to force his memories." _Wait, my memories?_

"Yuri…" Another voice… this one was more familiar than the rest. _You…_ "Will… Will Yuzuru be okay?" _You! What's your name!?_

"Don't worry. I won't let this moron forget anything." _Forget? I don't want to forget!_ "Fujimaki. Do it!" _No, wait! Whatever you're doing, STOP!_ "Okay, Otonashi."

"NOW!"

"This is an order! Don't make Kanade cry!" _Kanade!?_

…

…

…

I shot up with a jolt; a cold sweat covered my entire body. As I sat there, the blackness began to fade away. It was replaced with the image of a small, rundown hotel room.

Past the metal railing that was supposed to be a footboard for the bed I was on, sitting in the corner, tears streaming down her face, she sat there. Her eyes were probably as wide as mine.

"KANADE!" Ignoring whatever injuries I may have add, I leapt over the railing of the bed and wrapped my arms around her as quickly as humanly possible. "Kanade!"

"Yuzuru…" I could feel something wet and warm hitting my shoulders as I embraced her. "You're… okay." I grabbed her shoulders and pushed myself back, making sure to get a good look at her face - make sure it was really her.

"Yeah. I'm here. Please don't cry anymore." I held her again, but our touching embrace was quickly shattered.

"If you two are done, I'd like to progress things along." Reluctantly breaking away from my hold on Kanade, I looked back to finally start taking in my surroundings.

The seven of us - Kanade, Yuri, Hinata, Fujimaki, Ooyama, Takamatsu, and myself - were all in what seemed to be a tiny room inside of an ancient hotel. There was no drywall left on the walls, and the wood that was left was all rotted to the point that you could probably break it with a poke.

A small window with almost no glass left sat in the wall next to the decrepit bed I had been on only a few seconds ago, and a small, wooden end table with what looked like a walkie-talkie on it sat on the floor on the other side.

To the left of the end table was a small foyer, barely big enough for two people to squish into, which led into an almost broken down door.

"Right… So, for starters." I stood, wiping whatever tears may have still been streaming down my face. "WHERE THE HELL ARE WE!?"

Yuri took a step forward and brushed her hair behind her ear. When she crossed her arms, I made sure to prepare for a lengthy explanation.

"Starting with the big ones, eh, Otonashi? Well, no matter what question you asked, we'd have to give you roughly the same answer. An answer that is, in all honesty, very simple. We're in the Afterlife."

"The Afterlife? Wait, but I thought we just…"

"We did."

"Then, why are…?"

"Isn't it obvious?" Yuri glared into the air. "It's the Shadows."

"Allow me to explain." Now Takamatsu stepped forward, pushing his glasses up the bridge of his nose. "We are not currently inside of The Afterlife that we knew at the school."

When we left the 'School World', we did so because we realized that there was no other option. With the so-called Shadow Virus running rampant, we were forced to come to terms with our past and be reborn; or stay and be consumed.

At your suggestion, we probably would have obliterated ourselves without the Shadows, but we were too late at that point. The Shadows were there to force us back into the real world. At least… that was what we believed.

* * *

"When I went down below the guild…"

I discovered that The Afterlife was like a program that was built and maintained by a figure that could very well be considered God. It took people who died with regrets and trapped their souls inside of a different life - one where they could fulfill their desires so that they could pass on in peace.

The Shadows are a Virus in that program. After hundreds, maybe even thousands of years, his sanity couldn't hold on. He became an NPC, one of the things he had created. In his depravity, he infected the Afterlife Program he created with the Shadows.

Under his command, the Virus would hunt down human souls like us and forcibly obliterate them. Their souls would leave their bodies, leaving behind nothing but an NPC.

And so, I destroyed it all. In doing that, I saved The Afterlife from the Shadows. And, in a sense, I did. But it wasn't _The_ Afterlife that I saved - it was _an_ Afterlife.

* * *

"What do you mean…?"

"It means that there are more worlds."

"More… worlds?"

"Don't you get it? Isn't it strange that all of the human souls in our world were teenagers? That no matter how long we stayed there, we never aged or progressed to the next year? Nothing ever changed. But why would that be?"

Everyone remained quiet, like they knew it was rhetorical. They all knew the answer, and I was just starting to come to a realization.

"Then that means…"

"That's right. The answer, in all honesty, is simple."

* * *

We're in The Afterlife - a different Afterlife. One meant to serve as the Afterlife for those who died past the age of a high school student. This is different than our world; The School World. This is a world…

Infested with Shadows.

* * *

It was… a lot to take in at one moment, to say the least.

I sat there, holding my head as I tried to comprehend the vastness of it all. But no matter how many times I thought it over, one thing stood out in my mind. One unanswered question.

"Why us? Why are we here now?" Yuri frowned. I had seen that frown before, so I knew what she was going to say before she said it.

"That one, I can't help you with. There's only so much that we can figure out alone."

"At any rate." Hinata took two steps to stand in front of me, and offered his arms to help Kanade and I up. As he pulled us both to our feet, he continued. "We're here now and there isn't anything we can do about it just yet."

"I guess so." The same stupid smile that he always wore was still plastered on his face, but I could tell something was off. "So, where's everyone else?"

"That's the primary issue, actually. Us four, excluding Fujimaki and Ooyama, have only seen the seven of us here."

"That's pretty much how it is." Fujimaki tapped his shirasaya against his shoulder as he spoke. "Me and Ooyama 'spawned', for lack of a better word, here with T.K. and Matsushita. They took off about… seven days ago?"

"Wai- _seven_!? How long have you guys been here!?"

"Hmm… I dunno. Kind of lost count. Just to put it in perspective, you were out for a solid four days _after_ your body appeared." My head started to hurt again. _How long was I actually drifting inside of that black void?_

"Otonashi. For all we know, it could have been months since our graduation."

"_MONTHS!?_"

"Yep. Nobody could know how long it would take to be reborn after getting obliterated. Even for whomever it is that got here first… it could have taken years."

"At least, in theory." Takamatsu took off his glasses - and somehow the rest of his clothes. "Take a look around for a second." After doing as he said, he continued. "Everything - and I mean everything - in this world is in this sorry state."

"Well, that's depressing." I lightly pressed my hand against the wood inside the walls, but the support beams simply cracked and broke into dust as I did. "Also, why are you stripping?"

"We've discovered that this is due to the Shadow Virus."

You can think of it as a quite literal virus, in fact. When a virus infects a computer, it can potentially harm any files or programs. If you personified that virus, it would go around corrupting everything it touched. And that, indeed, is what this is.

The mere presence of a Shadow has the potential to corrode and decay everything nearby. Prolonged exposure can increase aging speed by multiples that could possibly be in the high hundreds. A mere second touching them might as well be standing around for several years.

But it's also this that proves it hasn't been long since we arrived.

"This building is falling apart due to the Shadows, so if it _had_ been years, it's almost guaranteed that where stand now wouldn't even exist."

"That's great, now put your shirt back on."

"We need to move." Yuri was leaned back against the wall whose corner led to the entrance of the room, her knees bent halfway. "They're coming."

Only a second, maybe even less, after she said that, the door - or what was left of it - shot like a rocket, crashing into the wall within seconds. As I watched each piece shatter into splinters, I could see it from the corner of my eye.

'_A Shadow!'_ I reached down to my waist with both hands, but as I grabbed for what I was reaching for… _'My gun is… gone!?'_

Two gunshots.

The whole ordeal took about four seconds, maybe five, to play through. It broke down the door, and Yuri shot before I would have been able to draw my gun if I had it. It stood for a split second - one that seemed like an eternity -, two holes gaping its face (?).

"RRRAAAHHHHHHH!" It let out a high-pitched scream before it faded into the air.

"There're more of them. Battlefront, get ready! On the count of three!" Everyone else took a battle stance with their weapons in hand as she started. "One." But I…

"Wait guys. I don't-"

"Two."

"-have a…"

"Three!"

"GUN!? Ahh, screw it!" As the other five charged out of the room, I took Kanade's hand and ran out after them.

As I ran through the doorway, I heard more of the high-pitched screams. Yuri had charged them with her knife. It was pretty risky, but I guess she knew what she was doing.

"No time to lose! Now that Otonashi is awake, we're abandoning the hotel. Let's go!" Each one of us nodded in agreement as we charged down the hallway. It was only a few seconds after that when we rounded the corner, and ran into danger.

"Damn!" At least twenty Shadows stood, almost as if they were waiting for us. Yuri took aim immediately "What a waste of bullets." As she began to pull the trigger, her gun was lowered.

"Then don't bother." Fujimaki walked ahead of her, his hand still partially on the barrel of Yuri's pistol. "Get the hell…" As he approached them, he unsheathed his shirasaya. "HELL OUT OF MY WAY!"

It only took a split second, and Fujimaki's body had seemingly teleported. He was already behind them, his blade in one hand and sheathe in the other, and his arms spread out wide.

"R… AAAAHHHHHHHH!" Each one of the Shadows faded away at the same time, leaving nothing behind but a scream.

"Let's go, keep moving!" Yuri ran passed Fujimaki as he slid his sheathe back over the blade, and the rest of us followed.

"A simple thanks. Is that too much to ask?"

After about ten flights of stairs - and fifty or so Shadows - we finally came out to the remains of the hotel's lobby. What was probably once a grand, plate glass sliding door was now nothing but bent metal and shattered glass. It was kind of depressing.

"Heads up, they'll be there by the time we get out."

"Wait, what'll be there?" She didn't answer.

Instead, she charged ahead of the rest of us, her gun and pistol at the ready. Almost the exact second her feet hit the cracked pavement, four or five rose from the ground.

"Die, you damned freaks!" Two gunshots and an extremely large ranged slice were all it took. Three of them had bullet holes piercing them near the top, and the other were in two pieces. These ones didn't even have time to scream. "Alright… they're gone."

'_I swear, these people never cease to amaze me.'_ At that point, I was already out of breath. I figured it had something to do with not moving for at least four days.

"Alright, people." Yuri left her battle stance and holstered both her weapons. She looked around before she turned to us. "We're splitting up. Hinata. You, Fujimaki, and Ooyama head south. Otonashi, Kanade, and Takamatsu, you're with me. We're going north."

"Right," we all said in unison, with the exception of Kanade. She just nodded.

"Hey, Otonashi." I looked over at Hinata just in time to see him toss a gleaming, black, handgun towards me. It was my Glock 17, the pistol I had used in the other world. "Make sure ya check, make sure it works right."

"Thanks, Hinata." I smiled as I caught it. "We'll catch up with you guys later." He nodded, returning my smile, and ran off with Fujimaki and Ooyama right behind him. "Alright, o' fearless leader. Let's go." No response. "…Yuri?"

"I need to talk to you, Otonashi." She didn't even look in my direction. As such, I could only see the side of her face. But even from that, I could tell she was serious.

"About what?" Takamatsu had the same look on his face as he pushed his glasses up the bridge of his nose. He even put his shirt back on.

"I want you to tell me about everything that happened… when Yui passed on."


	2. Search

Yeah, so I'm late as hell. With Christmas and New Years, plus work, _plus_ the fact that I suffer from major writer's block, I haven't been writing anything at all lately. Kind of got uber-motivated when I found an old hard drive with the ORIGINAL O:SA on it, though. So, yeah~ Now that I have real reference material for this, I can get Chapters done quicker. Hopefully.

Ah, but you're all probably raring to read this one, especially after I took so long, huh? Well, then without further ado.

Chapter Two, Here We Go. Enjoy~

* * *

**Chapter Two: Search**

_Shadow City - Middle Sector, 11:55 am_

A gunshot.

A scream.

Those two sounds marked the end for the end for the last Shadow in front of the blue-haired man. As it faded away into the air, he spun his gun around in his hand and slipped it into a holder on his hip.

"Hey, Hinata," The small, brown-haired boy said as he turned to his friend, "how are you doing on bullets?"

"I'm fine for right now, Ooyama." Hinata placed a hand over his holstered pistol. "I've only fired a few since we left, so I won't have to worry if this pace keeps up."

"Heh. If you used one of these bad boys, you wouldn't have to worry about counting shots." Fujimaki swung his Shirasaya around in the air a few times. "Just a quick few slashes and its game over."

"As much as I'd love to have this argument again, Fujimaki," Hinata put his hand on his friend's shoulder as he walked by him, "we have a job to do. Let's go."

As he walked further down the street, the object in his pocket shook from within its confines. Seeing it, Fujimaki could only sigh to himself with smile.

"Right, right, I got it, already."

_Shadow City - North Sector, 12:02 pm_

"Alright," Yuri held her gun down at her waist, the barrel pointed at the ground, "we're good for right now." With that, she stood straight and looked back to us. "Takamatsu, Otonashi, do me a favor and check the surrounding area. Kanade, stay close to me."

"Right. Be safe, Yuri."

"I will, now please stop stripping in front of me."

"Kanade." I looked over my shoulder at the small girl who hadn't let go of my hand since I grabbed hers to drag her out of the hotel. "I'll be right back, okay?" She only gave me a silent nod before running over to Yuri. "We'll come back to report if we see anything."

Yuri gave me the same nod without looking back at me before Takamatsu and I took off.

* * *

"_Wha… Yui? What are you talking about?"_

"_Isn't it self-explanatory? The five of us, Hinata included, hasn't seen anybody else. Nobody knows who left the communicator, and nobody knows where the rest of Battlefront is. Why do you think I let him take it?"_

_You noticed right? How much pain he was in, even though he forced that smile? He's hurting because he doesn't know._

* * *

Yuri's words kept echoing in my head. No matter how many times I heard it, I couldn't stop.

_"He doesn't know where the girl he loves is."_

'_Hinata… you moron.'_

"Hey, Otonashi." Takamatsu's voice broke me out of my daydream and snapped me back into reality. "Are you still thinking about what Yurippe said?"

"Uh, yeah. It's just kind of…"

"Well, don't harp on it too much, if you can help it. She only got like that because she's worried about a member of her group."

"…Right." At this point, I was just following behind Takamatsu, my gun lowered to my waist. I didn't know what I was looking for, but I figured I'd know if I saw it.

"Hold up." He stopped me by holding his arm out in front of me. "This isn't good…"

"What's going on?"

"Don't you feel it? We're surrounded."

"We're wha-"

As if to interrupt me on purpose, they came. At least twenty in all eight directions - the Shadows filtered out of the ground and circled us within seconds. Takamatsu instantly took aim with a carbine he pulled from out of nowhere.

"Damn… well, at least we know this area isn't safe; not that it matters, though." I raised my gun to my chest and did a quick turn to put my back against Takamatsu's. "Say, Otonashi."

"What's up?"

"You're not too rusty with that, are you? Feel free to sit this one out if you need to."

"Heh." I smiled. "Sounds like a challenge to me." I looked down the barrel of my gun and aimed its sights at a Shadow's head. "Fifty meal tickets say I get more than you."

I couldn't see him, but I know his face got the same smile mine did.

"You're on."

* * *

_Shadow City - Middle Sector, 12:11 pm_

"Toooooorrr…." The sound of a thin, solid object being swung into the air. "YAAAAA!" The Shadows that were unlucky enough to be in the sights of Fujimaki's swing were gone before they could scream. "Damn, they just…" He jumped to the side as one leapt at him. "KEEP COMING!"

With the same sound, it died the same way.

"I don't do well with guns at close range!" Ooyama had his eyes closed, both hands on the trigger, and blind fired into the cloud of darkness.

"Well, just don't hit us, alright?" As if on cue, a bullet headed for Fujimaki. "Heh." He didn't even hesitate or look towards it.

His sword pointed straight up, it quickly jerked it in a half circle, and the bullet changed direction. It moved straight through the head of a Shadow.

"Dammit! Where the hell is Hinata?!" If anyone who didn't know any better had seen him, they might have thought Fujimaki was some sort of acrobat based off of the way he dodged each and every attack with ease.

But there was one that caught him off guard.

"…Shi-"

"You called?" A gunshot. A sinister black spike was only a few centimeters from Fujimaki's face - yet it didn't move.

In fact, none of them moved.

With no time left to scream, every last one of the Shadows faded into the air. Both Fujimaki and Ooyama were at a loss for words. With one eyebrow raised, Fujimaki looked to where the voice came from.

"Hinata, you bastard, you scared the hell out of me."

"Heh, sorry about that, buddy." Hinata only smiled as he slid his gun back into its holster. "Bit slow with the blade, huh?" Fujimaki matched his smug smile.

"Sounds like you're tryna pick a fight with me."

"Nah, nothing like that." With a wave to brush the idea off, Hinata turned around. "Come on, I found something."

As he walked away, Fujimaki could only sigh again.

"Whatever you say, o' fearless dumbass."

* * *

_Shadow City - Northern Sector, 12:13 pm_

We were both out of breath.

Takamatsu and I stood, still back to back, sweat pouring down our faces. There was no living thing besides us within sight.

We had killed every last one of the Shadows that were surrounding us only a matter of minutes ago.

Completely spent, we both collapsed to the ground, only being able to sit back against one another.

"Damn… shooting a gun… really takes… a lot more out of you… than you'd think…"

"Yeah, and they just… kept coming." Takamatsu seemed to be a lot more worn out than me, which was only normal since he had been shooting an automatic gun. "But, hey… at least I won." _What?_

"Ha! You?!" I pushed myself slightly forward and looked at him over my shoulder. "I'm pretty sure I got at least double your kill count!"

I felt him push completely off of my back as he turned to me.

"What are you talking about? I clearly won! I was using a machine gun!"

"It's called 'being outclassed' so just give up and be in my debt, dammit!" I stood up and dusted myself off as I waited for a retort from my bespectacled friend. But that retort that didn't come.

"Taka… matsu?" I looked over my shoulder and then turned half way around to stare dead at the spot that Takamatsu had just been sitting. And yet… "Oi…"

There was nothing there.

* * *

"Yuri…" A small girl with silver hair sat huddled in the corner of a bombed out house, her hands over her head as she cowered in fear. "Where did you go…?"

Waves of them, maybe sixty or more surrounded her. They were unmoving; almost as if they were waiting for her to make the first move. Yet she was too frightened to even open her eyes.

"Help me… Yuzuru."

* * *

_Shadow City - Northern Sector, 12:09 pm_

"I've been hearing those gunshots for a while now. Are those two idiots alright?" Yuri looked around the area, taking several seconds, sometimes minutes, to look at every little thing. Her surveying abilities, however, weren't turning up much of anything useful. "Dammit. Hey, Kanade?"

"Hmm?" Kanade looked at Yuri as she said her name with a questioning look. "Yes, what is it?"

"I have to ask you… you can't…"

An explosion.

It came out of nowhere, and happened only a few feet from behind Yuri. The shockwave it produced sent her body forward a few other feet, and cut her question short.

"Ahh! Yurippe!" Kanade began to run forward, but she was stopped almost instantly.

"No! Don't come closer, or you're going to get caught up in the- Uh…" She was interrupted again. Just as she was warning her friend about it, shrapnel rained down upon the ground, and a large block of concrete struck Yuri in the gut. "G… ahhh."

The force made her cough blood for only a second, and then flew her entire body even further back.

"YURI!" She began to run to her friend, but it was too late. "Oh, no…" With a flash, Kanade could feel her head begin to hurt; it was like a sudden and powerful migraine pounded into her brain and then left as quickly as it came.

And right on cue, they came.

Hundreds, maybe even thousands of Shadows poured endlessly from the ground. They made Kanade freeze in her tracks, unable to move any further to help Yuri.

"Dammit… Kanade! RUN!" They all moved at the same time. Every single one of the Shadows leapt at either one of the two, preparing to drive them with their spike-like arms. "You bastards!" Still on the ground, Yuri got her gun out and began to fire.

They started disappearing one by one from Yuri's reign of bullets, and thanks to them being in a large crowd, a mass of them would die after one shot. But even then it wasn't enough.

A click.

"Wha?" Yuri pulled the trigger yet all the gun did was make an odd clicking noise. "No! Not now!" Ignoring the blood and injuries, she began to stand up and pulled her knife out, then proceeded to charge them blindly.

"AHHHH!" They got closer and closer, yet all Kanade did was cower in fear from them. "YURI!"

"KANADE!" Slicing down the Beasts like a madman, Yuri forced her way through the cloud of blackness trying to get to her, but before she could. "KANA…"

Yuri was gone.

* * *

So, as you can see (if you read the original) we're getting back into the strange and quite random vanishings. And how about those fight scenes!? I, for one, think I've gotten better at making some action come to life.

The fight with the Shadows in a new world continues, as our heroes look for more members of the SSS Battlefront. Hinata's group runs into a familiar face, while Otonashi must run to Kanade's rescue from the horrid Shadow Beasts.

Chapter Three: Leads and Discoveries.

Until Next Time~


	3. Leads and Discoveries

yey, After several weeks, Chapter Three is finally done. Writer's block must be conquered a few paragraphs at a time, people~ At any freaking rate, Chapter Three is a go. So without further adieu, "Here We Go". Enjoy~

* * *

_Shadow City - Eastern Sector, 12:14 pm_

"DAMN…" The sound of metal clashing against metal rang out through the seemingly night sky. "YOU…" Again. "TO…" And again. "HELL!" A fourth and fifth time the sound echoed, and then all went quiet. But before too long, more banging commenced.

Sweat poured down the face of the boy that held a large axe-like weapon as he swung it time and time again against the metal bars of the gate in front of him. Yet no matter how hard and relentless, and no matter how many times he swung, they never budged.

"Dammit all…" After what seemed like hours, he finally threw down his weapon and sat down. "This is the worst situation possible." The boy scanned the area in his sight. He was on an incredibly long bridge that seemed to stretch on for miles.

At even intervals along the bridge, there were wooden benches with metal railings bolted into place on the concrete. Laying on one of these benches was the small figure of what seemed to be a child, wearing black clothes and a flat cap that covered his sleeping eyes.

"I've been walking for at least three days, haven't eaten in longer, Yuri's nowhere to be found and to make matters worse…" His eyes settled on his sleeping companion. "I'm stuck with this little brat." The boy sighed to himself.

Off the side of the bridge was a fairly deep trench filled almost to the top with murky water. Trees grew in and around the river, but most weren't identifiable as 'trees' anymore. And behind him…

"And what the _hell_ is this thing even supposed to be?"

A large gate, at least two kilometers tall and seven meters wide stood behind him. The area behind it was shrouded in mist, so he couldn't see where it lead. He just knew he wanted to get through it.

"Dammit, Yuri… Where _are_ you?"

* * *

**Chapter Three: Leads and Discoveries**

I ran. I ran as fast as I possibly could.

'_Dammit, dammit, dammit!'_ My legs moved faster than I ever thought possible, carrying me to where she was. _'Kanade… please be okay!'_

I didn't exactly know why, but I could feel it; something besides Takamatsu's sudden vanishing was off. I had this impending feeling that all of my friends were in grave danger the very second after I saw him vanish.

What led me to that conclusion, though I don't know why, was a sharp pain that continued to pound at me from within my head even at that point.

'_Damn… this hurts so much! I don't know how much longer I'll be able to… huh?'_ It stopped. The very instant I thought the pain was going to kill me, it subsided. And the reason was clear, even though I had no idea why it felt that way.

I came across a horrific scene.

Hundreds, perhaps thousands of them swarmed a large plaza; no matter where you looked you would only see massive cloud of pitch black darkness.

Every inch of object they came into contact with broke apart and faded into dust - pavement, the ground beneath, benches, railings… even the air itself seemed to decay.

And at the center off all of it…

"KANADE!" I instantly pulled my Glock and began to fire at the cloud. I wasn't even aiming properly but every shot tore through several of them due to their crowdedness. "GET AWAY FROM HER!"

"YUZURU!"

Her screams didn't help subside my rage, and I just kept unloading clip after clip into the endless waves. I had already wasted several dozen bullets by the time I realized I wasn't making a dent. But even then, I didn't stop.

"You're wasting your bullets, dude."

"…Huh?" I felt a hand on my shoulder pull me back and another one push my gun down. It took me a second to realize what was happening or who was even speaking to me.

"Here, this might do the trick. Ya might wanna stand back a ways." With that, the hand on my shoulder threw me backwards. As I staggered, I could see the back of an SSS Battlefront uniform, but only for a second. After that…

An explosion rendered everything around me into a pure white. I fell upon the ground as everything became enveloped in a strange light, the likes of which I had never seen before in my life. It was bright enough to blind, and loud enough to deafen.

And he had used it so close to me?

Though it was unbearably painful, the after effects of the explosion only last a few seconds and subsided. The noise and the light faded.

"What the…?" And along with them, the Shadows had disappeared as well. "What… happened?"

"Good to see you're more or less okay. Goes double for Angel, though, huh?" The light was still etched into my eyes, so it took a few seconds before I realized what was going on. "Need help getting up?"

As my sight finally went back to normal, I saw him leaning over me with his hand stretched out to pull me up.

"Matsushita the Fifth." He smiled as I grabbed his hand, gladly accepting his offer.

"Not just me." Using his thumb to point towards where the mass of Shadows had been, he showed me another sight for sore eyes. "Take a look."

T.K. smiled as he began walking towards us, a small girl in his arms.

"Kanade!" I immediately ran over to him to make sure she was okay.

"All clear, enemy defeated." She had passed out during the explosion, but was fine nonetheless. "Friends safe?"

"Yeah, I'm doing alright now… But I dunno what would've happened if you two hadn't shown up when you did." T.K. held Kanade out to me and I scooped her up into my own arms. "What did you even do?"

"That's a question I'll have to delay the answer to for now." Matsushita's strange response and serious tone threw me off a little. He clarified when I gave him a confused look. "There's something we have to show you."

* * *

_Shadow City - Middle Sector, 12:21 pm_

"Hey, Hinata? What exactly is it that you found?"

"Don't worry, we're almost there." Hinata, Fujimaki, and Ooyama continued to walk down the street in (what seemed like) the dead of night. Each held their weapons at the ready for a specific reason. "Still… this area must be infested if the buildings look like this."

Hinata was, of course, referring to how much damage the surrounding area had suffered. Wooden buildings with large sections missing, decaying bricks, shattered concrete; it looked as though it had been left alone for several dozen centuries.

"You're right. I'm guessing we're closing in on the center of the city based off of how it looks. And yet…" Fujimaki looked around, and even as he said that, he could see them looking back. "What do you think they want?"

"Well, at this point…" Hinata saw one move out of the corner of his eye. "I can't imagine they're planning a surprise attack."

Mostly out of sight, but not out of mind, the Shadow Beasts watched the three as they continued on their way to the place Hinata was taking them. Their beady red eyes flashed like lights in the darkness of the decaying buildings, only visible out of the corner of the eye.

"Think they're scared?" Fujimaki smirked as he twirled his Shirasaya around in his hand. "It _is_ a freshly polished, and extremely deadly, blade."

"Don't get too cocky." Hinata lifted his pistol and ejected the clip to make sure it wouldn't jam. "If they attack, we won't have an easy time defeating them all."

"How many ya think there are anyway?"

"…Eight thousand, nine hundred and ninety nine?"

"Yeah, you're not funny." The three continued onward, despite the hundreds of obvious pairs of eyes watching them, and just as they rounded a corner…

"Here we are."

"Wha…?" Around the corner was a wide open area, probably twelve meters in both directions. The street sort of curved into the area but only went a few centimeters inward before stopping. And inside was, "completely untouched…"

Shrubbery inside of concrete planters lined the edges, still green as green can get, wooden benches sat perfectly intact, and the center held a large fountain, still spraying jets of water in all four directions.

"What the hell?"

* * *

_Shadow City - Northern Sector, 12:25 pm_

"What the hell!?" I was almost at a loss for words upon seeing the scene that Matsushita the Fifth showed me. A large plaza area that was still brimming with life; bushes, trees, flowers, benches, and crystal clear water spouting from a fountain.

"Yeah, that was pretty much our reaction." Matsushita stopped only a few steps away from me and looked across the scene. "Take a step inside, try to interact with it."

"…Interact?" Doing as he said, I began to walk forward. But as I neared, each step became harder to take; my chest tightened, my heart skipped several beats, my head stung, and other thing made it feel like this plaza wasn't natural at all. _'What in the world is with this…? It feels like it's getting further away every time I move closer…'_

And that's just what it felt like. Every step I took, it moved three away and, before I realized it, it looked like it was miles off.

'_My head… My head hurts!'_

"Otonashi!" I felt my eyes open with a jerk as Matsushita's voice called out to me. "Get a grip." It took me a few seconds to find my bearings, but I quickly realized it.

"I haven't moved…"

"That about covers it. You started to take that first step, but you never actually went anywhere."

My eyes remained transfixed on the plaza like there was nothing else in the world that concerned me anymore. It captivated me, mind and soul.

"Matsushita the Fifth… Just what the hell is this place?" I heard him sigh and turn to walk away.

"That's the question I want answered. Let's head back to T.K. for now, we shouldn't stray too far from Angel in case her condition gets worse."

* * *

_Shadow City - Middle Sector, 12:31 pm_

Gunshots endlessly rang out through the air, one after the other with no stops. Coupled with the air cutting power of a sword swing and the screams of those who were defeated, that particular area of the city was very noisy.

"Why do they choose now to," a slash and a scream echoed before he even finished, "FIGHT!?" Fujimaki spun the handle of his Shirasaya around to hold it in a reverse grip before jumping into a cloud of Shadows.

"Stop complaining!" Hinata ceaselessly fired his gun, making sure each shot killed several of them. "Just keep slashing so I can conserve bullets!"

"Oh, you're real… ADORABLE!" His slash was so powerful that it created something similar to a sonic boom, destroying everything in its path without discrimination. "Why don't you just… GET A DAMN sword? Sword fighting looks… TEN TIMES cooler than… SHOOTING A GUN!"

'_God, Fujimaki… you're such a broken character.'_

Between the overpowered slashes from Fujimaki's Shirasaya and Hinata's seemingly perfect aim, the thousands of Shadows attacking them stood little to no chance.

"Still, they're starting to get tough…" A click. "Ooyama!"

"Right!" Hinata ejected the clip of his pistol, letting it fall to the ground along with the gun, and threw his hand back. "Here!" It only took about three seconds, maybe even less, and he was already firing into the crowd again.

"Thanks, Ooyama!"

"Hinata! We're gonna hafta fall back at this rate!" Fujimaki continued to hack and slash with expert precision even at the speed he was going, but even Hinata could tell that was beginning to get slower. "I'm taking way too many hits!"

"There isn't very much I can do about that, ya know!?"

"Well, THINK OF SOMETHING, DAMMIT!"

'_There aren't a whole lot of places to run to. After all, the area behind us is…'_ Hinata's mind quickly shot back to what was behind him; a completely unharmed plaza still brimming with life.

"GAAAHHH!"

"Uh, FUJIMAKI!" Distracted by his thoughts, Hinata wasn't able to see what had happened, but Fujimaki was hit badly. "GET OUT OF THERE!"

Blood sprayed through the air as he fell towards the ground, a deadly black spike not far behind.

'_Damn…!'_ He hit the concrete - or what was left of something that _used_ to be concrete - and…

Nothing happened.

"…Huh?" The Shadow Beast that had managed to get through his defenses loomed over him, its spiked arm only a few inches from his chest, ready to end it at any second. And yet… "It's… not moving?"

Hinata and Ooyama stood dumbfounded at the sight before realizing that none of the other ones were moving either. Hundreds, maybe even thousands, just sat there in whatever position they were in, almost like they had frozen.

"What the hell…?" Almost on cue from Hinata's comment, thin black streaks moved through every last one of them, cutting them all straight in half. "AHH!?"

All three of them looked up at the rooftops at the same time, pretty much already knowing what to expect. And what that was… was their savior; a slightly short girl with long, flowing, black hair, standing on a roof like the ninja she pretty much was.

'_Well, well, well. Speaking of broken characters.'_ Hinata couldn't help but crack a smile, and Fujimaki pretty much started dying from laughter.

"…This is so stupid."

"Hey there, Shiina."

* * *

Well, well, well. "Broken characters" in-freaking-deed, Hinata. In my not so humble opinion, Shiina is the Jack Rakan of the Angel Beats universe.

For those of you who _did_ read the original O:SA, it's at this point you can see that the content is beginning to deviate, but I assure you this is only to add more depth and mystery to the story. The plot and events are still going to be quite the same. If you have questions about what I may or may not take out, feel free to PM me about it.

I decided to change up how Fujimaki talks while he fights a bit. If you didn't catch on to it, the capitals in his dialogue are placed during the times he's gearing up for a heavy swing. He shouts at the top of his lungs, swings, and continues talking without missing a beat.

I also decided to make him a little overpowered, solely for the sake of gaining experience in writing overpowered character fights. As some of you know, I'm not very good at battle scenes, so I want to try and get some practice in during the course of this story.

Soredewa. Until Next Time~


	4. A Mysterious Presence

Well, after a solid month, it's finally finished! -clap clap clap- Despite all of the 25+ hour work weeks, all the sicknesses (three colds in total), all of the Visual Novel downloading and playing, and all of the writer's block, I've pulled through and finished~ And ya know what, I'm actually fairly proud of the chapter, too.

And with that said, let's get to it, right? Chapter Four. Enjoy~

* * *

_Shadow City - Middle Sector, 12:47 pm_

"So, this is where you've been hiding out, huh?"

"I assure you. I am _not_ hiding."

The four - Hinata, Fujimaki, Ooyama, and Shiina - stood outside a five story hotel building. Despite being in the middle of the city, it was fairly intact; at least more so than the last one. Hinata looked it up and down as the rest walked to the large glass door under the sign that read:

"Hotel Grandé? What a weird name…" Almost reluctant to follow, Hinata walked through the glass doors - most of which were shattered - and was less than shocked to see it in the shape it was in. "Well. Go figure, right?"

Shiina continued onward while the other surveyed the lobby. It was pretty much set up like any normal hotel lobby; a counter against the left wall, a few chairs and tables scattered around the floor… except everything was destroyed.

"At least I can say I didn't expect much more." Fujimaki rested his Shirasaya on his shoulder and walked towards the counter. "Hey, Shiina, there any food in here?"

"Here? No, not anymore." Without another word, the black-haired ninja walked away.

"Was she telling us to follow? I feel like she was telling us to follow." Seemingly ignoring him entirely, Hinata and Ooyama walked down the same hallway that Shiina had. "God, you guys are asses."

Around three corners, up three flights of stairs, somehow across a gigantic hole in the floor that Fujimaki was pretty sure wasn't in the ceiling of the previous story, and up another flight of stairs, Shiina finally opened up on of the room's doors.

"Come on in."

"Pardon the intrusion, I guess."

"Thank you, Shiina."

"…"

The room was pretty messed up, just like the rest of the interior of… everything ever. But Shiina had somehow managed it turn it into a suitable living area, if only temporary.

"So… why this room, again? It seems so far out of the way." Hinata spoke up after walking in and surveying the destroyed room.

"I chose this room after making a detailed inspection of every room in the building. This is the only one that met my requirements."

_'Feels like she'll never say this much again, so.'_ "And what, pray tell, _are_ those requirements?" Shiina silently nodded and moved towards the window.

"First and foremost, the room had to have a working, locking door. I don't feel secure in my hideouts unless they're completely closed up. But the main reason is the room's height in the building. From this height, I can easily see a large distance into the city. It was from that window I saw your fight with the beasts, by the way."

Shiina spoke in her usual calm voice, though she was certainly speaking more then she usually did.

"So, then do you mind telling me why you waited until the last minute to help?"

"You happened to begin during my break period."

"Break… period?"

"Yes. I've been watching through this window every day, for nineteen hours a day, for the past three weeks. I need a break every now and then; after all, I'm only human."

"W-Weeks!? Shiina, _tell_ me you've seen someone else!" Shiina didn't take it upon herself to voice her answer and chose to solemnly shake her head instead. "...You've... got to be kidding me." Hinata slumped down onto the fairly dismantled couch in the corner and fell down on his side.

"Well, if it helps, you _do_ have us now. Four is better than three, and a lot better than one, considering our situation." The small boy spoke up with a wry smile.

"Ooyama's right." Fujimaki smiled and unsheathed his Shirasaya halfway, revealing a glint on the 'freshly polished' blade. "And if four is better than three, imagine how much better five or six will be. _Hell_, maybe even seven! And who's to say we won't run into trouble along the way, eh, Shiina?"

"This is so stupid…" Despite her words, Shiina returned the challenging smile Fujimaki gave her. It seemed she was accepting.

"Alright, then, let's go find us some Battlefront!" Fujimaki turned and walked out, waving his now unsheathed sword like a sparkler at the beach. And as Ooyama exited behind him, begging him to stop being so haphazard with the weapon, Shiina silently followed.

But Hinata…

"…"

Shiina stopped at the doorway and took a pause before shifting her body towards the couch. He sat on the ruined couch with his elbows resting against his knees, and his laced fingers above his eyes. She couldn't see most of his face, but she knew.

"Hideki." Shiina, once again, spoke in her calm voice despite the words she said. "We'll find her, alright?" Without waiting for him to respond, she walked through the door, leaving Hinata alone in the dark room.

Even without being able to see his face, Shiina knew all too well the tears that ran down it.

* * *

**Chapter Four: A Mysterious Presence**

_Shadow City - Northwest Sector, 12:40 pm_

"Well, here we are. 'Home Sweet Home', I guess." Matsushita the Fifth pushed open a set of pretty massive double doors that had no handles; kind of like the doors that are marked with the sign "Employees Only beyond This Point" in stores.

That was actually a fitting description, since that was essentially what they used to be. The large, black doors led into a room that was a literal back area.

"Are you sure it's safe to use these doors? I mean, the Shadows could just walk right in."

"I can see where you're coming from, but, think about it: they can literally pass through the ground." He had a point. "Besides, we've been here a while and haven't any problems with him around this general area." I dreaded to ask him to elaborate, but I knew I had to.

"And by 'a while'…"

"Well, I found T.K. about seventeen days ago. But before then, it had to have been a month."

Those last two words hit me like a ton of bricks. As the full weight of them crushed down onto me, I staggered and fell down into a sitting position, my head lightly banging against the wall beside the doors.

I placed my hands over my face and mumbled to myself.

"…a month and a half and nobody is any closer to figuring out anything about getting out of here. Just what _is_ this place?"

Matsushita the Fifth had already moved away from me at that point, seemingly wanting to leave me to my misery, and began rummaging through some boxes. A few minutes later, he came back holding two purple boxes in his massive hands.

"Here. You must be thirsty." What he offered me made me exhale a breath of laughter.

"A juice box, huh?" Regardless, I gladly accepted. "Guess I can't expect a soda from the cafeteria vending machine in the current situation." After ripping the straw from the plastic pouch and popping it through the aluminum top, I felt water touch my lips for what felt like the first time in years.

I decided to take a look around the building the two had been using as a home base of sorts now that I had time to clear my head. The basic interior was pretty much similar to an auto repair garage.

In fact, looking to my right I noticed that there were three large shutter doors lining the wall. Remnants of large, mechanized car jacks went down the floor one by one in a straight line. The ones that were still intact were lowered into the ground and covered in blankets.

Off to the left was what was left of an office area - desks, filing cabinets, wheeled chairs; the place that pencil pushers got the paperwork done. Along with the normal, office things, there were a few coolers and chests and a wall lined with guns.

All in all, it seemed like a decent enough place to hide out.

"So, have you guys done anything… productive?" I asked my almost cynical question almost half-heartedly as Matsushita began digging around in another chest.

"Hm? Oh, yeah." He threw some things behind him, and a few things went to the side. "Both me and T.K. have a basic understanding of creation mechanics from the time we spent guarding the Guild." More metal clanged against the concrete floor. "So, we've been spending our time increasing an arsenal."

"…Looks to me like you're preparing for war." _'Increasing your arsenal' definitely doesn't fit what you're doing with this place…_

"I guess you could say that. After all, we don't know what to expect." With that, he slammed the lid closed and picked up the things he threw to the side. "For example…"

Taking seemingly random pieces of metal and tools, I watched from an angle that didn't really give me a clear view as he fashioned a whole bunch of different things on a table. I watched for a few minutes, but saw my eyes beginning to close.

"Don't sleep just yet." Without me noticing, Matsushita the Fifth had stepped in front of me again. "We need you up and ready for this." _Guess his footsteps are lighter now that he's so slim…_ He tossed me a medium sized matchbox that made a jingle as it passed through the air.

"And what exactly," I grabbed the box of ammo from the air and shook it at my ear, "is _this_ going to be?"

"We're heading to where T.K. and Angel went."

"Doesn't really answer my question, ya know." I pushed back against the wall, using the force to slide my body up it in order to stand.

"We're going to find the Gate of Heaven."

I stopped as I heard those words, and felt a chill go down my spine.

* * *

_Shadow City - Middle Sector, 1:37 pm_

Her eyes opened.

Slowly - very slowly - her eyelids began to lift themselves. The little light there was flowed into her sight, blinding her for a few moments, but she opened her eyes regardless.

How many hours or days had she been asleep? She honestly had no way of knowing.

"Dammit…" Yuri held the side of her head as she lifted her upper body into a sitting position. "Where am I…?" Never one to hesitate, she quickly took a look around. "A classroom?"

Void of desks, chairs, and any trace of human life, the average high school classroom she sat in seemed out of place in the world she was in.

After making sure there weren't any immediate threats, she reached around her body and the floor looking for her gun. She found it a few feet away from her and quickly grabbed and held it at the ready.

Without wasting a second, she stood in a crouch and ran for the half open sliding door. She stopped in front of it for a second, listening to the hallway for any noises before she threw it open and…

_Pomf._

She felt it drop on top of her head. Her eyes rolled up just in time to watch the object fall to the floor.

"A chalkboard eraser?" Her hair and shoulders were covered in a thick, white powder, and all she could do stay crouched in the doorway, staring out into space into disbelief. "… What kind of sick joke is this even supposed to be?"

She dusted herself off and ran out into the hall. There were no windows on the wall, so she assumed she was close to the middle of the building.

Her gun still held down at her waste, she went over to the next classroom, making sure the door wasn't booby trapped before opening it just enough to peek inside. She couldn't sense any life nearby, human or otherwise, but she never acted without caution in an unknown situation.

She didn't see any threats in this room, but she did notice the same thing was off about this one as the last.

"Empty." She stood and slid the door open all the way. Looking at the full view, she could see that it was just as barren as the room she woke up in. All the desks and chairs, the lectern, the chalkboard, the counters near the windows, even the blinds were missing.

In fact, every room she went to was the same way. From one room to the next, she opened every classroom door in the hallway to find that they were all empty.

She slammed another door closed.

"That makes thirty-four rooms." By now, she had gone around almost the entirety of the class section. "Maybe I should check the club rooms…" Her gun was still held down by her waist. "Though I don't think there'd be much of a difference. Still, though."

At long last, she determined she was completely alone in the building and holstered her weapon.

"Where _am_ I?" At the moment, she was standing at the end of a hallway that seemed to lead into a lobby of sorts. It was the second floor, two curved staircases on either side of the platform led down to a larger area with benches and whole row of broken glass doors on the wall. "This is definitely a school, no matter how you look at it. But why is there-"

Just at that moment, while she started to wonder about the oddities of a school being in this world, she was cut off. Her eyes shot open wide at what it was that cut her thoughts short.

It came from all around her; a terrible noise, like that made by thousands of locusts swarming. As loud as it was, it was impossible to determine the source. She gripped her ears and fell to the floor.

"AAAAHHHHHH!" Only able to open half of one eye, Yuri did her best to try to figure out what was happening. "What the hell _is_ that!?"

It continued to echo through the corridors of the school, and rang in her ears, long after it had actually stopped.

* * *

_Shadow City - Middle Sector, 1:24 pm_

Hinata slowly moved his head around the corner of the rotting building. Though he couldn't see much, everything he needed to see was in his immediate vision. A plaza… and thousands of black masses.

"Just as Shiina said… they've congregated around it again." His eyes darted back and forth from one end of the street around the corner to the other, from building to building. Every single one of the bombed out wooden structures held hundreds of them. "Now how do I go about doing this?"

_"So, what exactly are we doing again?" The four of them walked down the street in front of Shiina's hotel. "I'm not exactly sure about what the plan is still."_

_"This is so stupid."_

_"Be that as it may…"_

_"If you don't understand the plan, then you must only know what your role is."_

_"And that role is-"_

_"To distract them, yes."_

Hinata sighed to himself from his hiding spot.

_'Damn ninja, it's easy for you to say…'_

So far, none of the mass of enemies had noticed he was watching them, so he was safe to let his thoughts flow a little bit. Shiina had simply told him to distract the Beasts at the plaza.

_But what are those guys gonna do while I'm risking my butt out here?_ This was the only thought now moving through his slightly empty mind. And then…

He smiled.

"Well, nothing ventured…"

Hinata spoke these words as he gripped his pistol's grip and pulled it out of the holster around his waist. Without any hesitation or second thought - so really kind of like an idiot - he stepped out from the corner and aimed his weapon.

"Nothing gained!" With that, he pulled the trigger.

Countless times per second, he pulled the trigger of his Smith &amp; Wesson 645, the barrel aimed for nothing but the massive cloud of darkness. Shot after shot, four to five of them were blasted into nothingness.

"COME GET SOME!" Seemingly responding to his challenge, a portion of the cloud - maybe fifty of more of them - leapt for him, their scythe-like arms ready to move in for the kill. "Yeah, right!"

With insane precision, deadly accuracy, and terrifying speed, Hinata unleashed an entire clip into the wave. Without any time to die individually, the whole thing exploded into nothingness at once.

And with that, they stopped.

Every single one of the Beasts seemed to hesitate to move in for an attack. Seeing this, and as if to taunt them, Hinata reloaded his gun and spun the trigger guard around his finger.

"Well?" He caught it by the grip in mid-spin and re-aimed it forward in his one hand. "Who's next?"

* * *

The wind picked up at that moment. Though, perhaps 'picked up' isn't the proper term.

If you had to give it a proper description, it would probably be along the lines of 'the wind blew harder than it already was', since that would let whoever it's being described to know that it picked up despite already blowing quite fiercely.

They weren't very relevant, but these were the thoughts that passed through the head of a certain teenage ninja as she stood atop a large, deteriorating building.

Well, again, 'building' wasn't quite the right term. Perhaps 'pillar. Or maybe 'tower'? Yes, 'tower' fit the structure perfectly.

"Sigh… This is _beyond _stupid." Shiina gripped the top of her scarf and pulled it completely over her mouth with one hand gripped something at her waist with the other. "This should do…" The hand at her waist moved upwards; the object she had been gripping came into her view.

But instead of being on single object, it was actually three. Three, jet black metal handles with circular bases and diamond shaped tips. The kunai-style daggers rested in between her fingers gently as she began to spin them around.

"It's almost time."

* * *

Hinata stood in the middle of the street, his gun still pointed towards the massive black cloud. Since a few seconds ago, they hadn't made a move. But, likewise, Hinata hadn't made on either.

As such, they were caught in a type of stalemate.

_'But I can easily make a move without much risk. If I wanted to, I could make this an all-out battle zone. But, that's if, huh?'_ The truth was, Hinata didn't want to make a move.

Making a move on the crowd would surely cause them to make their own. After all, they wouldn't stand and watch as he shot them.

_'I'm here to distract them, so as long as I have their attention, I'm doing my job. Fujimaki almost got his head taken off while we fought them together, and, as much as I hate to admit it, he's a lot stronger than I am.'_

Hinata watched as the sea of black shook back and forth with anticipation. They were waiting for him to make his move. The moment he started his attack, they would pounce.

But that moment never came.

Without warning, three black kunai-style daggers struck with a loud 'clang'. The sound made Hinata jump a bit.

_'What the… HUH!?'_ Hinata moved his eyes towards the source of the noise, but only slightly as not to remove his sight from the enemies. It was a pointless limitation, because the Beasts had completely removed Hinata from their attention regardless.

Nonetheless, Hinata couldn't believe his eyes; three knives that clearly belonged to Shiina had just fallen from the sky. But that alone wasn't the surprising part.

"They're… floating?" Each of the kunai was seemingly stuck in midair, as if they had hit an invisible wall. "But they definitely made a noise just now…" His thoughts trailed off as he looked up to the source, and saw something else incredible. "HAH!?"

Shiina was in the middle of a free fall.

"SHIINA!? THE HELL YOU DOIN, YOU MORON NINJA!?"

Apparently, she had been standing atop the large clock tower that was sitting on the edge of the mysterious plaza.

"Hinata! Get down!" Fujimaki's rough voice called out from behind the massive cloud of Beasts, and Hinata looked over just in time to see him preparing for a swing. "Shiina…" He murmured to himself as he arced his Shirasaya all the way back. "This had better work!"

With a loud shout, Fujimaki took a swing with all his might, aimed at nothing. Nothing was in his range, and nothing was getting anywhere close to his range, yet he swung.

At the same time, Shiina did a flip in midair and pulled a long katana from behind her, then prepared to take her own swing.

As he swung, Fujimaki's blade became enveloped in an intense, blue light that shot forward at an insane speed. Hinata had no choice but to do as he had been told and dove onto the ground, covering his head with his arms.

As the light moved through the air, it sliced directly through each and every Shadow in the street, tearing them into nothing instantly.

The swing aimed at nothing annihilated everything that had enough misfortune to be in its path of destruction. It was relentless and undiscriminating, tearing through the Beasts as well at the buildings and ground. Hinata was pretty sure he'd have been killed as well had he not dodged when he did.

And at the same time, Shiina made her swing. Her katana was enveloped in the same intense light as she swung, the arc making the blade head straight for one of the three kunai.

"Hii… YAA!" With a pretty uncharacteristic (is all Hinata could describe it as) shout, Shiina struck the base of her previously thrown weapon, making it sink a few inches in the air that mysteriously held it up. But that wasn't the end.

Whereas the katana would normally bounce off, Shiina forcefully held it down as she seemed to float on the handle of her blade. The blue light still enveloped the edge as she pressed it farther downwards, despite the kunai that was still in the way.

Hinata could only watch in disbelief as the events occurred around him.

_'What is she…?'_

As if to purposefully cut his thoughts off, Shiina's goal was accomplished in that instant.

With a sound like glass shattering, the kunai rocketed to the ground under the force of Shiina's incredibly powerful swing. The after effects of the event made Hinata cover his ears to protect them from the sound.

Despite her long fall, Shiina gracefully spun around in midair and landed on her feet with no issue.

"That takes care of that."

"The hell…" Hinata began to pick himself off of the ground, his gun still twitching in his shaking hand. "Does that mean…?" He stood up all the way and aimed his gun without a second thought. "WOULD SOMEONE MIND EXPLAININ WHAT THE JUST HAPPENED!?"

He pulled the trigger faster than he did before, the barrel aimed at Shiina.

But, much to his anticipation, she either dodged or deflected every single one of his shots. After all, he wouldn't have shot at her had he thought he'd _actually_ be able to hit her even once.

After a short while, pulling the trigger on produced an empty click.

"This is so stupid." Shiina sighed and halted her evasive movements as she picked her kunai from out of the ground. "Allow me to explain." Hinata sighed as he put his gun back into the its holster.

"Please do."

Shiina began to speak, but she was cut off almost instantly.

It came without warning; a shrill, deafening sound like that made by a storm of locusts. Its source was definitely miles upon miles away from them, but it sounded as if it was right in their ears.

"AHH! WHAT NOW!?" Hinata fell to one knee and covered his ears again. Fujimaki did the same, and Shiina seemed like she was trying to endure it, though she was covering her ears as well.

"I don't know!"

And just like that, it ended as quickly as it came, leaving a high pitched ring in their ears, even long after it was over.

* * *

Just for the record, this Chapter is approximately 4,047 word long without Author's Notes! -clap clap clap- Pretty sure that makes my longest Chapter to date throughout any one of my stories (I think Upgrade's longest is somewhere around 3.5k?). Not sure if _only_ 4k is something to proud of, but I am still a beginner in a ways, so I'm proud of myself fer nao. At any rate!

The mysterious, shrill scream has been heard by both Yuri and Hinata's group, but what on earth is it? This noise like a swarm of locusts? And just what _did_ Shiina do with those kunai and her katana? You'll have to wait (hopefully not a whole other month) for Chapter Five to find out! (Though the cheaters who read the original should know...) With that said...

Until Next Time~


	5. Gates of Heaven

Took long enough, huh? Chapter Five, go! Enjoy~

* * *

_Bang!_

With the metallic sound of gun fire echoing through the street, everything soon went quiet, and the smoke that rose up out from the barrel of my Glock moved straight into the sky due to the absence of wind.

For only a fraction of a second, I could see the final mass of darkness that had stood in my way, seemingly frozen, until it silently exploded into nothingness.

"Phew…" Sweat was pouring down my face as I finally left my defensive pose and slid my gun back into the holster hanging from my waist. "That was tiring."

Matsushita the Fifth quietly put his hand on my shoulder as he swung his assault rifle by the strap in order to rest it on his back. Again, without a word, he nodded his chin towards the direction we were going and walked off to let me follow.

I didn't have much of an idea as to where we were going, but his words still echoed in my head.

"_We're going to find the Gates of Heaven."_

As we continued down the street, headed towards the North Sector's mysterious plaza, I swallowed the air in anxiety.

'_No matter how you interpret that… it's ominous as hell.'_

* * *

**Chapter Five: Gates of Heaven**

_Shadow City - Northern Sector, 1:12 pm_

We stood at what seemed to be as far north as the city stretched; off all of the main streets, far past all of the residential areas, into and out of a multi acre park, we finally arrived on the veritable outskirts of the limits.

"…Are we even in the city anymore?"

"Dunno." Even after we reached the gigantic riverbank we now walked alongside, Matsushita hadn't stopped or even told me where we were headed. "All I know is that what's on the other side of the river is _not_ what should be there."

I took his words into consideration.

Normally, the other side of a river on the outskirts of a city would be another city. The two cities would be connected by a bridge so that cars could cross over from one city to the other.

I looked out over the expansive river, and it was all I could see; about half way across the water's still surface, there was a wall of mist. It was so thick that I was sure you couldn't see a centimeter in front of your face if you were in it.

"So are we going to be crossing a bridge?"

"Mm." Matsushita nodded and raised his right arm to point off into the distance. "You can see it from here."

"Hmm?" I looked directly towards where he was pointing, but I couldn't see anything. But that's because of what I was looking for. "I don't see a bridge…"

"No… You're looking for a white suspension bridge, right?" I silently nodded as he turned his head to look at me. "What we're looking for is a bit different."

I moved my eyes to look towards where he nodded again, and found my gaze naturally settling on something kind of disturbing.

"It's…"

Concrete.

What it seemed was little more than a structure that belonged over a river in a small park; not something cars could drive over. But the biggest thing that threw me off was...

"It goes straight into this mist…" Matsushita nodded again with a slight grunt. "And I can take a guess as to what's on the other side."

"Pretty much. Don't worry, though; the mist clears up a good bit when you're actually on the bridge."

"…" He began to walk ahead of me some as I pondered on something. "Still ominous as hell." Almost reluctantly, I followed behind him.

My pistol was still resting in its holster, and Matsushita hadn't made any moves to grab the machine gun resting on his back, so I could only assume that this was a generally safe area.

"Explain to me again, that feeling when they show up." Without looking back at me, and without stopping, he began to explain to me once again.

"Like I said, I don't really know the logistics of it myself. All I know is that when they're around, my body reacts."

It's like a pounding migraine that comes out of nowhere. My vision gets hazy, my mind goes blank, and it feels like a vice is tightening around my head, inch by inch no matter how much my skull gets in the way. My temples feel like they could burst any second, and the urge to cough blood leaps into my throat…

And then it's gone.

As quickly and without warning as it comes, it leaves. The whole process takes an entire half a second, so it's not having any adverse effects, but that much pain in that short a moment is almost unbearable.

"Hmm…" As he explains it to me for about the tenth time, all I can do is wonder about it. Not only is this apparent ability to sense the Shadow's presence something that didn't happen in the School World, but it also seems like I'm the only one who can't feel it.

"And you're sure you haven't felt it?"

"I think I'd remember something like that…"

"Probably." There was no 'probably' about it; there was no way I'd experienced something like that before.

If it was just Matsushita the Fifth or Yuri, I could write it off as those two being just insanely tuned in to their surroundings. Matsushita is a warrior with amazing senses, and Yuri is… well, she's Yuri.

…Not really sure how else to put that.

* * *

It only took a few more minutes to reach the fog and death-flag covered bridge. Even before we stood in front of it, I had thought it was ominous, but…

"This is just beyond terrifying."

"No time to turn around now, Otonashi. We're almost _there_." He had already begun to walk down the bridge before he finished speaking, and I had no choice other than follow.

"The way you put emphasis on that really isn't helping." And so, we walked, once again, in silence. Every step brought both of us closer to the cloud of mist that started about a little less than a fourth way down. Within a minute or two, we had already made it into it.

Each step now made the path ahead less and less visible as we moved deeper into the veritable barrier that stood floating over the bridge. It wasn't long before a disgustingly familiar sensation spread through my body.

"…" I stopped. Yet I kept moving.

Even knowing that I wasn't going anywhere, my legs kept walking, moving my body forward through the mist against my will. And then the second part set in.

I was following Matsushita the Fifth, and we had been walking at the same general pace the whole time; that hadn't changed. Yet, every step I took towards his direction, he seemed to get three steps away.

"It's happening again…" I spoke, yet no sound came.

A void where nothing happens.

This was the only way to possibly describe this feeling; like you were trapped in a place where nothing will ever progress, even as everything moves forward.

My mind started to go blank, and before I knew it, I had no idea how much time had passed. A few minutes or hours, a couple days? Even something as ridiculous as several hundred years didn't seem too far off. The sharp, mind-numbing pain in my temples dulled my sense of reality.

And then…

"Watch it." His still rather large hand gripped my shoulder. His voice and touched snapped me back into reality almost instantly, and I could only look down to see chips on concrete fall through the hole and down into the watery abyss below. "Try not to keep your focus on any one thing; let your eyes wander."

He let go and continued walking.

"I'm telling you, I can't see anything in this fog."

"Well, don't worry. It won't keep up for much longer."

"…" Without another word, I began to follow him again. _'I really don't want to feel that experience again. The one time was two times too many.'_

* * *

_Shadow City - Beyond North Sector, 1:23 pm_

"…What the crap is it?"

Just as Matsushita had said, we soon exited the fog. But what I stood faced with afterwards was a lot more… everything.

"Just what I said it is."

"Groovy, man."

More ominous, mysterious, and a lot more death flag raising. That's what this thing was.

"This. _This_ is the Gates of Heaven?" It took a more literal meaning than I had expected. "IT'S A LITERAL GATE!" I said this as if I wasn't impressed, but it really was something.

After all, it's not every day one comes across a gate made of pure silver that's at least 20 meters long and at least twice that tall. On either side was nothing but air - as if there was nothing to support it. But that didn't make me think it would open very easily.

'_Even so! Damn you to hell, Matsushita the Fifth!'_

"But here's the strange thing." He took a step towards the gate.

"You're telling me the strange thing isn't the fact that the massive, about twice the size of your average hotel, silver gate is literally floating there, attached to nothing but fog?"

"Well… that _is_ pretty off putting, but, no. This thing is… _pure_." His choice of words threw me off a little.

"Pure…? What do you mean… _pure_?" He took another step towards it and grabbed the bars.

Now, when I say 'bars', I don't mean your typical iron gate bars. The design inside of it was like thousands of small silver tubes curving around like vines to make up an incredibly intricate design.

Something like that would probably cost you one hundred thousand yen at a _normal_ size…

Matsushita took the bar and gripped it as hard as he could, and then began to force it; shaking it back and forth with all of his overwhelming strength. But even then, it did little more than rattle as if it were a tightly locked - and attached to a wall - gate.

"I'm not really sure how to explain it… guess you could say it's like the opposite of the Shadows."

"The opposite?" He nodded.

"Whereas the Shadows initial presence gives me a massive migraine, and physically hurts the body… like… gah!" As if to quell an incoming headache due to over thinking, Matsushita the Fifth pushed the palm of his hand against his temple.

"Well… don't hurt yourself, now." As I raised my hands in front of my chest to try to say it was fine, I felt a slight tug on the cuff of my sleeve. "…?" Looking behind me, I saw what was gripping my jacket. Faced with the gate, I had almost forgotten she had been standing there from the moment I arrived. "What's up Kanade?"

"…" She didn't say anything, choosing instead to stare silently into my eyes. I couldn't really react to it, or even fathom how to. All I could do for the next moment was watch her soft, amber eyes stare back into mine. "…"

In the end, she only shook her head. With no other way to react, I only smiled and put my hand on top of her head.

"So, what are we supposed to do about this thing?" I directed my question towards Matsushita the Fifth, but I was honestly hoping for anyone to answer me. But everyone was silent.

"…Well." After a few minutes, he spoke up. "The best thing to do would be to leave it alone… at least until we can figure out what it physically is."

"Mm." The small voice from behind me gave me a start. "It would be best to leave this structure alone. We don't know what purpose it may serve within this world; trying to tamper with it would be ill-advised." I'm pretty sure that was the most Kanade had spoken since she got to this twisted place. "In addition, I agree that it is indeed of a 'heavenly' sort."

"Heavenly?"

"Mm." She nodded firmly before, reluctantly, relinquishing my sleeve from her light grasp, and walked towards the gate. "This gate is not of this world, nor is its structure man-made. The only conclusion is that it is either born of Heaven… or born of Hell."

"Man…" It was giving me a headache. With my palm pressed against my temple, I staggered a little before falling on my ass. "I know this world lacks any kind of common sense, but… Heaven and Hell?"

It went silent again. Everyone was left thinking what the damn thing might be, or what significance it held.

"Oh, wild heaven!"

…Everyone _except_ the moron. Damn, his footwork noise is starting to irritate me…

"Taking into consideration that our present situation lacks any kind of logic." Matsushita broke the near silence and took a piece of chalk from his breast pocket.

He knelt down and began scribbling something onto the cracked concrete at his feet. After a minute or two, he gestured us over.

"This is how it would work, roughly, based on what we know. Just to be clear, this is probably nowhere near the fact." I nodded as I got up only to take a few steps and sit back down again.

"Please explain."

"Mm." Kanade agreed with a nod and crouched next to me. We both took a look at what he had drawn; a few shapes and some words, along with some arrows.

A circle labeled, 'Earth - Real Life'.

A triangle labeled, 'School World - Afterlife'.

A square labeled, 'Shadow World - Afterlife'.

Two diamonds with 'Heaven' and 'Hell' written in them.

'Earth' was at the top, with curved arrows pointing to both the 'School' and the 'Shadow' which were lined next to each other below it. Beneath them, 'Heaven' and 'Hell' were also lined up.

"So here we go."

Starting with what we know for sure, the Afterlife is where those who died with regrets go in order to move past them and be reborn.

_He drew little stick figures next to the arrow leading from Earth to School._

We, the SSS Battlefront were moved to the so-called 'School' because of our age at death. But others…

_Now he made them on the other arrow._

Those too old to be attending school were moved here. A separate 'program' or 'file' of the Afterlife designed in the same way and with the same purpose as the School, but aimed at a different demographic.

But something went wrong. Namely…

_An oval off to the side, in between Earth and Shadow. Within it, he wrote 'God - Programmer'. Seeing that alone sent a chill down my spine._

The one who made the Afterlife, the one we presume to be the physical manifestation of "God", and the Shadow Virus that infects his program. When the Shadows showed up, they began forcing us to be reincarnated, and broke the system.

And for reasons unknown…

_He wrote 'SSS' next to the School bound stick figures and circled them. He then made an arrow from that circle to the square representing the current world._

We were taken here. Once again, taking into consideration that our current situation lacks any amount of physical logic, all we can incur is that it's to 'cure' this world. In other words… To eliminate the virus.

_A few squiggles inside the square and some dashes coming from the ones on his left - something I could only assume were us shooting the Shadows._

But even that is going past what we know for sure. In fact, about seventy-five percent of that might as well have been pure speculation. Regardless, though, it brings us to this damn thing…

_I was suddenly reminded of the looming presence only a few feet behind him as he started scribbling again. When I looked again, he had made a bolded dot in between Heaven and Hell; an up pointing arrow that spread in to directions linked it to both of the Afterlife sections._

Assuming that this place is neither Heaven nor Hell - and let's be honest, that's a damn safe assumption - both where we are now and the School world, would be something like Purgatory or Limbo.

…_That's damn terrifying._

_While I thought that, he made a small 'x' on the top edge of Shadow. Tapping that X with the chalk, he continued._

And if that's the case, my way of tempting Otonashi into coming here might even be true.

_So you admit that it was a ruse… Jackass._

This might very well be…

He looked over his shoulder. It seemed like he was pausing to add dramatic effect, but it almost felt like he didn't want to admit it himself.

"The Gates of Heaven." As the words left Kanade's lips, Matsushita looked like he just heard the voice of a savior, but all I heard was the voice of the harbinger of misfortune. "It is quite possible that, upon stepping past this gate, one would be reincarnated."

"…" My eyes slowly fell from the gate to the chalk markings. _'If this is all true, then...'_ Something hit me. I don't know what it was, but _something_ was off. '_If you think about it as much as you need to, it makes sense. Everything here is right, but… what's missing?'_ My eyes shot around from shape to shape, trying to figure out what my brain was trying to tell me.

"Otonashi." My train of thought broke. With a confused grunt, I looked up to see Matsushita crack his knuckles and smile. "Stand back a little." Without even waiting for me to move, he twisted his body into a downward arc and swung his fist into the concrete, making it shatter.

"Whoa!" I managed to dive out of the way of the impact zone and the more dangerous debris. "What are you…!?"

"Everything we talked about here never happened. We don't want to underestimate the enemy, and we don't want them to know that we may know things." Without another word, he started for the bridge.

It was sudden, but he was right. We didn't know anything about the Shadows, so whether they could comprehend abstract thought or not was an unknown factor in our fight against them. _But what is this uneasy feeling…?_

T.K. followed quickly after Matsushita and I held my hand out for Kanade to grab onto so we could follow suit. As she wrapped her fingers around mine, I began to walk back into the mist.

And that was about the time it happened.

"SCREEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEE!"

An ear-piercing scream blasted through the air, and was soon followed by a gust of wind that was probably on par with a tornado at top speeds. Without enough time to think, I dropped to my knees and covered my ears.

"AAAHHHH! WHAT THE HELL!?" It was loud enough to deafen a person, and probably make a deaf person hear again. Even so, my shouting was able to reach the others' ears.

"I DON'T KNOW!" I heard Matsushita's voice, and looked to see that both he and T.K. were on their knees as well.

"KANADE!" Fighting the gust of wind that was steadily blowing the thick fog away, I turned to wrap my body around hers to shield her small frame from any incoming debris. She was doubled over like the other two, but she was shaking as well. _'Damn… what the hell is-'_

It ended.

'…_Huh?'_

Just as randomly and out of the blue as it came, it abruptly stopped; like a video playing it had been paused halfway through. Everything went quiet for a minute, but I didn't let go of Kanade until he spoke.

"Guys… we have a serious problem…!" I turned around slowly to face back towards the city. The sheer air force produced by the scream had blown every last trace of fog away from us, and the end of the bridge was visible.

And I saw it.

Past T.K. who stood as dumbfounded as me, past Matsushita who was already getting ready to pull the trigger on his assault rifle, and way past the park we had passed through to get there…

Stood something I could only describe as a monster, plain and simple. At least as tall and as wide as the gate was - maybe even larger than that - with an incredible length to boot, it stood on four legs. Pitch black skin, massive red eyes, and millions of razor sharp teeth in its gigantic mouth.

A true monster.

* * *

IT APPEARS! The cliffhanger of, what?, the past 3 Chapters is finally revealed! But what on God's green Earth could this monstrosity be!? Why isn't T.K. getting any lines!? WHY AM I ASKING YOU!?

Well, that aside, though: Back to lethargy. (b'-')b

Until Next Time~


	6. Chase

Well, this one took a while, huh? Honestly, though, what did you expect from me?

Jokes aside, though, this Chapter finally includes a little bit of plot progression (finally), and I'm happy to say that Chapter Seven shouldn't take too long to write! But you guys are _probably_ more interested in this Chapter than in what I have to blab about, so without further adieu.

Chapter 7. Enjoy~

* * *

Darkness.

Pure darkness. That's all that there was.

No… That wasn't right.

It was close, but it wasn't quite right.

'Darkness' is the absence of light. Even in pitch black 'darkness', a faint trace of light still exists; nocturnal animals can see in the dark because their eyes adapt to see those faint traces better and better as they get dimmer and dimmer.

This _wasn't_ the absence of light.

And without light, could it really even be called 'darkness' in the first place?

No.

And if it wasn't 'darkness', then what was it?

The answer was simple.

This was 'nothingness'.

A black void where there was 'nothing'. Not even something as simple as 'light' and 'dark' existed within this place.

'Up' and 'down' and 'left' and 'right' simply blended together, there was nothing for 'sight' to see, nothing for 'hearing' to hear, nothing for 'touch' to feel.

There was only 'nothing'.

...

"Ugh…" The eyes opened, making light flow back into reality as it created the darkness. From the view of the black sky it could tell that is was lying on its back. The hand touched the forehead to quell an incoming headache as the back lifted itself.

The soft, orange bangs hung down and gently brushed over the hand as the eyes began to adjust to the sudden change in light and scenery.

"It would seem…" And as the hand moved downward to grab the frame of the glasses and push them further up the nose…

Takeyama forced a glare to shine across the lenses of his square glasses.

"I've made a miscalculation. How very… uncharacteristic of me."

* * *

**Chapter Six: Chase**

_Shadow City - Northeast Sector, 2:13 pm_

The fast paced beating of four sets of footsteps loudly sounded through the wide streets surrounded by decaying wooden buildings. As the noise hit the concrete, it used those buildings to echo the sound even louder. And yet…

It was drowned out almost instantly.

A devastatingly loud roar blasted through the black sky and the even louder footsteps coming from underneath the source of that roar pounded into the earth below its feet.

And I just ran, holding onto the small hand that was gripping mine back, with all my might.

"WHAT IN GOD'S FREAKING NAME IS THAT THING!?" I shouted as loud as I could to the two people that ran in front of me so that I could actually project my voice to them over the sound. "AND WHY WON'T IT GO AWAY!?"

And behind me, it was still following after us.

The massive, black beast that was bigger than a mansion ran after us on all four of its legs, opening up its mouth to reveal thousands of sawblade-like teeth every time it roared.

"How the hell should I know!?" Matsushita the Fifth shouted back to me as we ran. "I don't even think it matters, just shut up and RUN!"

As it let out another ear-shattering roar, we began to round a corner in the street. Gripping her hand even tighter, I picked up speed and turned down the side street without losing any momentum.

It was fine; everything was fine as long as that hand still held back onto mine for dear life. With only that thought in my head, I ran as fast as my legs could move, and then forced them to move even faster than that.

From behind me, I could hear the sound of concrete shattering and raining down from the sky as the beast slid across the pavement as it began to turn. Like a racecar trying to make an insanely sharp turn, it tapped its brakes ever so slightly and turned.

Looking back at it for only a second, I saw it crash into the rotting buildings, taking out an entire block of structures in a single moment, and then pick up speed as it came billowing after us once again.

"Damn… How can it move that fast!?"

"It's almost like it weighs nothing!"

"Aluminum Giant!"

"We have to find some way to get it off our asses!" Matsushita the Fifth shouted that to us, but we all just kept charging down the street in a straight line. "Any ideas!?"

"Intelligence…" The small voice that came from behind me shocked me a bit, and I assumed that it surprised the other two as well as they looked back with wondering eyes.

Kanade paused for a second when we all began to stare at her, but she collected herself and started to speak again.

"The beast's intelligence is probably low… We could confuse it by splitting up, then running in and out of its sight, and regroup when it's thrown off of our trail."

As she finished, Matsushita took a look towards the sky. He scanned around in the distance for a moment before pointing a finger into the air.

"Over there!" What he was actually pointing at was what looked like an office building. "That's where we'll regroup. It may be a bit of a way away, but it gives us time to see if this will work!" That kind of threw me off a bit.

"Wait… Wouldn't it make more sense to regroup back at the auto-shop!?" I thought it was pretty sound logic with even sounder reasoning, but Matsushita only shook his head.

"Now that we've made progress, we have to keep moving! I'll explain in detail later, for now let's put Angel's plan into action!" He focused his attention back in front of him and nodded to the left at T.K.

T.K. nodded back immediately and jumped into an alley as we passed by. Matsushita then looked back at me again.

"Otonashi, take this!" He reached into his pocket and threw what he pulled out to me; a small black box. As I caught it with my free hand, he explained. "When that goes off, run out into the street. Keep Angel with you; as it stands right now she's the weakest link among us. Keep. Her. Safe."

He came to a dead stop, though his sheer momentum made him slide along the concrete for about half a foot, and he swung his machine gun around his shoulder.

"GO!" I nodded.

"Okay… We're going on ahead!" As I said that and charged past him, the sound of gunfire filled the air and I made a dash for an alley on the other side of the street. _'Sorry about this, Matsushita the Fifth!'_

Now that I was running to the side instead of forward, I could hear the monster's footsteps getting louder and louder. As they drew dangerously close, I looked back in time to see our 'distraction' dive into the alley he had stopped in front of.

_'Guess that makes it… Operation, Start?'_

* * *

_Shadow City - Middle Sector, 1:49 pm_

It ended. _Finally_ it ended.

Even after pushing her hands against her ears with enough force to crush a boulder, Yuri could still hear the noise echoing in her head, and a ringing echo in her ears.

"Ahh…" She finally took her hands from her head and began to stand, though she was unsteady and staggered a few times. "What in the hell… even was that?" The shrill roar that sounded like a swarm of locusts buzzing past at Mach speeds had kept up for a few minutes, but most of it seemed like a never ending echo.

The pounding pain in her head was draining her of her strength, and she was forced to lean on the wall for support while she collected herself.

_'At any rate… it seems like I'm completely alone in this place. And if anybody - or thing - was near me, they would've come here by now. So, that begs the question…'_ She staggered a little as she took a step, but the wall kept her from falling. _'Where the hell am I, and how the hell did I get here?'_

It had all happened in a flash.

One moment, she had been trying to rescue Kanade from the Shadow Beast's ambush.

In the next, she had woken up in this place; this school devoid of all signs of life and human interaction.

How much time had actually passed between those two moments?

Was Kanade safe?

And, of course, how had she gotten to where she was now in the first place?

Yuri didn't know the answers to any of these questions, and that fact bore down on her mind with an intense weight.

_'Why do I never have the answers?'_

In the end, she didn't have the answer to that question, either.

Pressing the palm of one hand against her throbbing forehead in a futile attempt to quell the pain, and the other against the wall, Yuri began slowly walking down the hallway.

_'What is the deal with the headache?'_ It hurt. It hurt a lot, actually. The pain was to the point that she felt like she would pass out at any second. _'I've never felt a headache be this painful…'_

Step after step, something felt as though it was pounding away on her brain and it only got heavier and louder with every second, until…

"Uh…"

With a thud, Yuri's body hit the linoleum floor below.

The noise of her landing at most certainly sounded.

And yet Yuri was no longer there.

* * *

_Shadow City - East Sector, 2:27 pm_

Fast paced breathing. Fast paced breathing and loud, echoing footsteps.

That was all I heard as I bolted down the alleyway. I felt like I was running out of breath as it was, but now these back alleys were throwing twists and turns into the mix. It was all very…

"DEATH!" I shouted into the air as my legs made their way around another corner against the will of the rest of my body. My hand still gripped Kanade's tightly. "I'm starting to think our chances of survival would be higher facing that thing! My heart can't take much more adrenaline!"

Even as I complained, I kept running. I didn't have time for anything else; making sure she was safe was my number one priority.

"Yuzuru." As her voice came out, I looked over my shoulder in response, though I kept running regardless.

"Are you getting tired?" That would have been bad, but she shook her head.

"There." She pointed into the direction of the street we had been running down. I looked towards that spot and could see the beast rampaging on the other side through the cracks in the buildings and the alleys we passed that led to the street.

I think I knew what she was trying to tell me.

"It's okay." I smiled back at her. "He's not just doing this for you, so you don't need to feel guilty." _Though I'd be lying if I said she wasn't the main reason. Still…_

I focused my attention back onto the path ahead.

_Be safe, Matsushita the Fifth…_

* * *

_Shadow City - East Sector, 2:28 pm_

"WHY ME!?" Matsushita the Fifth barreled down a rather small alleyway, his legs moving faster than they ever had before in either of his lives. "WHEN DID I EVEN VOLUNTEER FOR THIS!? DAMMIT T.K.!"

Behind him, the gigantic Shadow Beast followed. With every step that it took, whole sections of buildings were torn apart. This, in turn, made a constant rain of wooden and metal to come crashing down to the ground; this only added to the danger of the situation.

"T.K., you had better hurry up, I don't have all day here!" He kept running with the beast right on his tail, and focused on nothing but distancing himself. "If the beast doesn't get me, this shrapnel will!"

He had been running for quite a while, so he figured it would be time to switch soon.

_'Come on… COME ON!'_ He could tell he was getting closer and closer to a turn that would lead him directly into the street. It was beginning to worry him that T.K. hadn't signaled him yet. _'Don't tell me…'_

_Bzzt._

"Uh…" His thoughts were cut off by a slight vibration. A small device in his pocket started going off, making a smile spread across his face. "About time."

He made the next left turn into another alley which led him to the street. As he made it out from between the buildings, he saw a familiar face that he was beyond overjoyed to see.

"Tag. You're it."

Matsushita the Fifth's hand collided with T.K.'s as the two ran past each other.

"Hide And Seek." The English speaking blonde pulled two pistols from his waist as he ran into the alley that Matsushita had just came from.

_'Wrong game, moron…'_

...

Two shots from each gun placed directly into the face of Shadow Godzilla, and T.K. got his attention immediately.

"Heh." A cocky smile.

"Grrr… RAAAAAAAAAAAHHHHHH!" An ear shattering roar.

"Let's Go." The beast lunged forward, trying to crush T.K. under its massive body. But the agile blonde simply dove to the side and tucked into a roll to dodge. "Too slow, monster." As T.K. aimed his pistols back onto the beast, it slammed into the street face first. "A Game starts now. Shall We Dance?"

The pistols began to unload into the beast as the wielder turned on a single foot and spun around into a mad dash for the next alley opening. Seeing him run off, the beast picked itself up and began pursuit of a new target.

T.K. dashed into the alley and released all his metaphorical limiters, making his body run as fast as it could possibly go. He wove in and out of the maze-like back alleys dozens of times before the beast even had a chance to get to the place he had entered from.

But just getting out of its sight wasn't going to be enough.

Within seconds, the beast began charging right through the tight alleys, demolishing all of the buildings in its way within seconds.

"The Game won't be that easy, Monster." With a devilish smile, the blonde reached into his pocket and began pulling out a long, thin metal wire. "Here Comes The Boom."

* * *

_Shadow City - Northeast Sector, 2:31 pm_

"Let's see here." Takeyama's footsteps loudly echoed throughout the area regardless of how light they were. The utter lack of solid objects in the area made even the quietest noise echo. "It must be around here somewhere."

Despite only waking up a short while ago, the small boy had already made a large amount of progress, moving from the middle of the south sector to almost the end of the southeast. The reason he had gone that far in the first place was because he was searching.

"After all," moving his glassed up the bridge of his nose, Takeyama made the lenses flash with a glare, "it's not like I'd ever make _two_ miscalculations within such a short time span."

He took a few other steps, each one echoing loudly like the others.

"Now then, I just have to-"

_Ka-BOOM!_

He was cut off completely.

A massive explosion sounded somewhere to the north, creating an extremely loud noise from all of the echo potential within the confines of the city. Even with how far away it was, Takeyama could see and hear it clearly.

"What… on Earth was that?"

* * *

_Shadow City - East Sector, 2:31 pm_

"WOO HOO!" The tall blonde teen jumped towards the wall, slapping it when he got close enough to, and then used his momentum to spin away from it. As he landed, he crouched and swiped his hand across the opposite wall.

With another spin, T.K. began to run down the alley at full speed again. After he had gone about twenty feet, the beast that was hot on his trail slid to a stop in order to make the sharp turn it needed to make to run towards him again.

But before it could get very far after him.

_Ka-BOOM!_

An ear shattering explosion set off, blowing a giant crater in the wooden buildings that had been unlucky enough to be next to the center of the blast radius.

That same explosion shook the beast and was strong enough to force him to stop in his tracks. He stopped and his 'knees' buckled, forcing his massive belly to the ground. Afterwards, all it could do for a few seconds was watch the blonde teen run out of his sight.

"Grr… RAAAAAAAHHHHHH!" With a scream louder than a storm of locusts, the beast stood up and resumed its pursuit. It began to charge towards T.K.'s direction without any hesitation, and-

_Ka-BOOOOOOM!_

A chain of explosions shattered the stillness in the air, igniting all around the beast and nuking the entire area. They kept going off one after the other, forcing the beast to take a step back every few seconds.

Meanwhile, T.K. ran down another alley with a grin on his face, listening to each and every explosion as they went off.

"The Game will be ending soon. Then comes Kiss You Goodbye, Baby."

_Shadow City - Border of Southeast and East Sectors, 2:43 pm_

Takeyama stopped in his tracks. An unending chain of explosions kept going off in the distance. They were still quite a bit away from where he was, but the clouds of dust they made were so large that he could see them very clearly.

"What is happening…? Hmm?" In the split second pause between each explosion, there was a barely audible noise. Trying his best to drown out the explosions, Takeyama tried to listen to that noise. "It sounds like…"

A roar.

"Some sort of beast getting rained on by explosions? I can't say for sure that it's the SSS making the explosions, however, though I can safely assume it is. I could also assume that they're fighting Shadows, regardless of who they actually are."

He silently stared at the alleyway he faced, not really knowing what to do now that he had come all the way to figure out what the explosions were.

"Well, I guess I'll just head back and… wait a minute." Something had caught his eye. He took a few steps into the alley and crouched down.

What he had saw was an amazingly thin piece of metal wiring. A single strand was floating in midair.

"…It must be attached to the walls. But why is it here? And what even is it?" He ran his finger across the wire. "…WAIT A-"

He had realized something in that moment.

Jumping back to distance himself from the wire, Takeyama then stood straight up and focused all of his attention onto the air in the alley. He stared at the space itself instead of a specific location or object, and it all came into view.

"You… You're kidding me." His glasses began to fall down his nose as he looked upon what he could now see:

Thousands of the same paper thin wires stretching from wall to wall, going on for miles down the alley.

"Th-They're insane!"

* * *

_Shadow City - East Sector, 2:45 pm_

"Damn, damn, damn, damn, damn, damn, DAMN! HOW DID THIS EVEN HAPPEN!?" I wondered if I would be able to hear my own footsteps as I ran this fast if all the other noises stopped, but I knew that wasn't going to happen anytime soon.

Why you ask? Well, that's simple.

"RRAAAAAAAAAAAHHHH!"

Because of the gigantic monstrosity chasing me down.

As per Kanade's plan, we split into three groups and ran into the alleys in order to try and throw this giant Shadow off of our tails, and everything had been going smoothly. That was, until I started hearing explosions going off all over the place.

Everything had been going according to plan. That is, until a massive chain of random explosions started going off all over the place. I could only assume it was Matsushita and T.K., but how and why they were doing it I couldn't fathom.

At any rate, that was where everything started to go wrong.

After a few hundred explosions had gone off in the span of two or three minutes, I felt the box Matsushita had given me vibrate in my pocket. As he had told me, I took this as a signal to run out of the alleys and back into the street.

And as I did that…

"Get Chance And Luck." I saw T.K. running across to my side of the alleys, saluting me with a shining smile on his face.

And as he disappeared from my sight, it happened; this massive nightmare of a living creature began chasing me.

This, of course, brings us to the present situation.

_'I thought the point of this was keeping her safe!'_

Regardless of the utter lack of logic in Matsushita the Fifth's plan, I kept running at full speed. After all, there wasn't really much I could have done about it.

_'I just have to keep running, right!? Then let's do this!'_ Making sure I wouldn't lose my grip on Kanade's hand, I forced my legs to move faster than they were. Every fiber of my being was screaming at me to stop, but I knew that we would both die if I did.

"OTONASHI!"

"…Huh…?" Hearing the gruff voice scream my name out so close caught me off guard, almost to the point that it scared me. Looking ahead, I could see Matsushita coming out from one of the turns ahead. "Matsushita the Fifth!"

With the beast still on me, I couldn't exactly stop to chat with him, so as I got near him I motioned for him to run with me. He nodded and began following right along beside me.

"You mind explaining what's going on!? I thought we were trying to keep this thing away from Kanade!" He nodded again and smiled, as if I had asked exactly what he wanted me to ask.

"You heard them right? All of those explosions." _Obviously._ "That was T.K.'s doing. We kind of just came up with this idea out of the blue, though we haven't had any communication. We just both knew it was the thing to do."

"Get to the part where you _explain_ that idea to the two people who are in the dark right now!"

"This." He reached into his pocket again and started pulling something out. I was actually starting to wonder how much stuff he had stuffed in those pockets. "This is what made those explosions."

"You…" I was dumbfounded. "You can't be serious." What he held was paper thin, metal wire.

A thread of Bomb Wire.

* * *

And that is that!

...Was that even plot progression...? OH WELL MOVING ON.

Next Chapter Semi-Spoiler Time!

In Chapter Eight, a whole mess of fun things will happen. We're finally going to see Hinata and them again next time, and the chase will come to an end. We're also going to see two characters that I've been dying to reintroduce, and the Giant is finally going to get a name!

We might even be able to find out exactly what these mysterious plazas are since Shiina's making an appearance next time, too! But, that's a long way off (probably).

Until Next Time~


End file.
